What our teachers have been learning after school

One of the many benefits of having our school blog is that we use it to share some of the stories that go on behind the scenes or after our students leave for the day. A question that we sometimes get is "What do teachers do after school?" or "What do teachers do when the students are not here?" We'd like to share some quick highlights from what happened last Thursday.

Every Thursday our teachers stay after school until 4:00pm for professional development and other types of meetings. The 2nd Thursday of the month they get the opportunity to select their own professional learning based on a number of choices. We call these "STAR Days" because we will offer sessions on the following topics: Students, Technology/Maker Work, Assessments, and Responsive Classroom. We offer these sessions, and the teachers choose which topics they are interested in exploring and learning more about that day. Ms. Eckerle regularly surveys our staff for ideas and she coordinates the logistics of the STAR days.

Here are some brief examples of what our teachers had the opportunity to learn about just last Thursday:

Students:
Our teachers could learn more about Proloquo, a symbol-based communication app to give voice to those who cannot speak.

Special education teachers learning about Proloquo

Our PE team shared about the speed cup stacking and helped prepare for our school's participation in the World Record Stacking Event on November 12th.  

Learning more about speed stacking: learning by doing!

Technology
Our teachers got to explore and learn more about our new Maker tubs and Maker challenges in the library

Learning more about the Maker Tubs!

Assessments
Our teachers partnered with Instructional Coaches to present ways to use EdModo and other technology tools with students

Learning about EdModo

Responsive Classroom
Our teachers partnered with Instructional Coaches to learn more about our new Cooking Cart and how the principles of Responsive Classroom can be utilized when students are using the cart. Our Cooking Cart was bought through a grant from the Shannon Foundation (read more here).

A Responsive Classroom message for our Cooking Lesson

Preparing to make pumpkin pies.

Making bread

Our teachers help guide the topics that we offer each month based on their needs and interests, and they also help present on topics to their colleagues. Our STAR sessions are a great way for our teachers to explore new ideas, tools, and strategies to use with their students this year.

This is just a quick glimpse into some of what our teachers do after school in order to improve professionally. Be sure to ask them about the Cooking Cart, Proloquo, speed stacking, EdModo, or the Maker Tubs the next time you see them!